In 1905, many residents in Blantyre had a rather novel way of cleaning their chimneys themselves, to avoid paying somebody to do it.
The orthodox way, simply being to set fire to it!
About 8pm on Thursday 12th October 1905, the air above Stonefield was filled with an all too familiar obnoxious smell and thick black smoke as it was found that Central Buildings was once again the source of the nuisance.
This building was notorious for chimney fires and dependable for having such a fire on almost every day. Chimney fires did burn off the soot in many cases, but was particularly dangerous if any fire escaped through stonework, reached building timbers or caught nests. Not to mention the dangerous in starting and trying to control them!
